Video playback, enhanced graphics, and extended audio connectivity are becoming the standard hardware building blocks to support multimedia. To achieve cost savings, these features are being integrated onto the motherboard. Sound and graphics add-in cards that were once required to support multimedia functionalities are now being integrated onto the motherboard in the form of specialized application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and in other instances are being brought into the processor itself. To achieve this integration, multimedia outputs need to be transmitted off the motherboard and multimedia inputs need to be transmitted onto the motherboard. Specifically, it is desirable to bring audio connectors, Universal Serial Bus connectors, as well as other indicators and switches to the front panel of a computer system chassis. The front panel of the computer system chassis is a location that is most accessible to the computer user. However, with today's form factors, it is a challenge to bring more input/output (I/O) connectivity out of the chassis and to the front panel.
One approach to bringing audio and video I/O out of the chassis in the past was to use cables to connect motherboard components to connectors mounted on spare expansion slots on the chassis. This approach had several disadvantage. First, the use of cables incurred additional costs. Second, cabling the motherboard components to connectors required additional time and resources from the manufactures.